


And They Lived...

by bygoshbygolly



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Blood, Cinderella Elements, Dreams, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 07:00:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8046751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bygoshbygolly/pseuds/bygoshbygolly
Summary: Dreams and fairy-tales and real life are all reflections of one another.
The things Utena dreams





	And They Lived...

The first time Utena has the dream, she is not the prince. Instead, she is the princess, waltzing with the prince from her childhood. She is safe and content in his arms. There is no clock striking midnight, no slipper on the stair, only the two of them sweeping around the ballroom in an endless dance.

 

The second time, years later, Utena is the prince, and she has found her bride. Himemiya is dancing with her, and something in Utena tells her she's found the one. They smile and dance until the clock strikes midnight. Himemiya tears herself from her arms and dashes away. Utena chases desperately after her, but finds only a glass slipper at the top of a staircase.

She goes from house to house, searching for her bride. Finally, she finds Himemiya tending her roses. Utena gently, smilingly places the slipper on Himemiya's foot, where it fits perfectly, and they laugh as she carries her bride to a new life.

 

The third time starts much the same as the last. There is Himemiya, midnight, a chase, a slipper. There is the search across town, and Himemiya again.

They ride off on a white horse, Utena's bride in the circle of her arms. She is content, until she hears a voice calling in the distance.

_“Extra! Extra! Extra!_  
The prince has chosen a false bride!  
If you look at the slipper now  
You'll see that there's blood inside!” 

Utena can't help herself, looks down, gasps because the voice was right. She brings the horse to a halt and swings down, gently taking Himemiya's foot into her hands. Blood pools at the toe and runs over the sides.

“Himemiya!” Utena cries. She pulls the slipper off and sees that Himemiya's big toe has been sliced clean off. “Who did this to you?” Himemiya cocks her head to the side, curious.

“Is this not what you wanted?” she asks, and her voice is so calm.

“Why would I want you to hurt yourself?” Utena tries to staunch the bleeding, but there is so much, Himemiya's foot is a mess.

“How else was the slipper supposed to fit?” Himemiya asks, and Utena is so shocked she wakes up.

 

The fourth time she has the dream, Himemiya tries the slipper on, smiles, and says that she is very tired, sorry to be so rude, but she needs to lie down and would Utena be so kind as to leave?

“I'm here to take you to the palace,” Utena protests. “Wouldn't you rather sleep there?”

“Oh no,” replies Himemiya. “I couldn't impose. I'm perfectly happy here.”

“But...you could do whatever you want, if you come with me.”

“You are very kind,” Himemiya says, her tone light and her smile unsettlingly bland. “But this is my home.”

“But-”

“I'm sorry, but it really is time for you to go.” Himemiya's voice loses none of its sweetness as she leads her to the door, and Utena leaves in defeat.

 

The fifth time, she is not dancing with Himemiya at all, but Akio. _Yes_ , a voice says quietly, although whether it is inside her mind or outside it she cannot say. _This is how things are supposed to be_. Things unfold in the standard pattern: midnight, a chase, a slipper, a search.

When Utena knocks on the last door, it is Himemiya who opens it.

“Good afternoon,” she says, pleasantly.

“Good afternoon,” Utena replies. She holds up the slipper. “I am searching for the owner of this slipper. They are my true love, you see.” Himemiya's face doesn't change, but she seems about to close the door. A hand stops her, though, and there is Akio behind her, smiling down at Utena.

The slipper fits, of course, and they ride off together, leaving Himemiya behind.

 

The sixth time, Himemiya ushers Utena inside and calls her brother down. When Utena kneels to place the slipper on Akio's foot, she doesn't see Himemiya lock the door behind them. It is only when she turns around, hand clasped in Akio's, that she sees the lit match in Himemiya's hand.

Himemiya smiles as she drops it, and the house catches fire in an instant, the three of them trapped inside.

 

The last time Utena has the dream, she is filled with a sense of dread she does not quite understand. She is dancing with a young girl, who looks faintly familiar, almost like...

When midnight strikes, the girl gasps and disappears at once. Utena runs out of the ballroom anyway, and the slipper is still there, despite the girl not having left by the stair.

When she reaches the house, she is startled to see herself open the door. Utena awkwardly explains her need to find the owner of the glass slipper in her hand, and her double waves her inside.

First, Akio is ushered into the room. The slipper fits perfectly, but looking up into his smirking face Utena shakes her head. Something's not right.

Her double sighs and leads her childhood prince into the room. He smiles softly as he sits, and again, the slipper fits perfectly on him. Utena nearly takes his hand, but she is seized by a feeling of doubt and shakes her head again.

Himemiya appears in the doorway and Utena's heart leaps. The slipper, improbably, fits again, and Utena looks closely to make sure Himemiya isn't injured this time. She smiles, and looks up into Himemiya's face. Himemiya is smiling too, with the same blank smile she always wears, and Utena's sense of unease grows. She shakes her head once more, and removes the slipper.

“Isn't there anyone else?” she asks.

“No,” says Akio.

“No,” says Himemiya.

The prince shakes his head.

“Who else would there be?” her double asks.

But Utena knows the girl is here, and she knows she has to find her. She runs out of the room, searching for the girl from the dance. She finds herself climbing a tower staircase, round and around and around, higher and higher. Finally, she reaches the top. There is a door in front of her, without a handle, and no amount of pushing will open it. Frustrated, she hurls the glass slipper at the door, where it shatters.

The door creaks open.

Utena steps through and sees the girl from the ball sitting on the floor under a window.

“I found you,” she breathes, and the girl looks up, startled.

“Why are you here?” she asks, and Utena blinks.

“I found you,” she says again, and holds out her hand. “Come with me; you're safe now.” The girl looks at her hand, then out the door.

“No,” she says. “If I go with you, I'll still be trapped.”

“You won't,” Utena replies. “I'm here to free you.” The girl looks at her and smiles.

“Your intentions are a cage, the same as this room.” Utena goes cold, denial rising in her throat like bile. “I know the way out,” the girl says, and climbs up on to the window sill. She turns back to Utena, and she can see it now-- the girl is Himemiya, is Anthy, her true self. “Thank you for looking for me,” the girl says, and steps out the window.

Utena cries out in horror and runs forward. But when she looks, there is no sign of Anthy anywhere.

She thinks of Anthy's calm certainty as she stepped out the window; thinks of her double and Akio and the prince and Himemiya's smiling self waiting for her downstairs. She thinks about going back to her life as a prince, never knowing what happened to Anthy.

Utena climbs onto the windowsill, and hopes, and steps out into the open.


End file.
